Battlestar Galactica: Season 4.5

 

 

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I'll do a more in-depth review later, but suffice it to say that the last 2 years of Battlestar Galactica have suffered from rushed plotting and a lack of texture that made the drama so wonderfully realistic in the show's first season. While the conclusion to the series in Season 4.5 might not have been all it promised in terms of further rushed plotting -- mostly due to the Syfy Network not promising the show a 5th season -- this release rectifies those problems for 3 of those episodes, which are given new life here. "A Disquiet Follows My Soul" is over 9 minutes longer, "Islanded in a Stream of Stars" is over 19 minutes longer, and the finale, "Daybreak", is over 11 minutes longer. They are all in far superior form here, especially the first 2 extended episodes, which take on a whole new life, when compared to the aired versions.

My one major complaint that hopefully will be rectified with future releases is that this was not done with more episodes. As reported by other fans, "Deadlock" had a much more elaborate subplot with Baltar that was cruelly cut down; "Blood on the Scales" had 40 minutes cut out of it. All this tends to weaken the drama, as even bits of dialogue are omitted from the aired versions. However, recutting episodes with new music and sound mixing costs quite a bit, so the producers may have wanted to hold off more extended versions for future releases, which we'll hopefully get for not only the remainder episodes of 4.5, but also 4.0 and much of Season 3's action-oriented episodes.

In any case, despite its lesser political exploration, simply not enough story moments for Lee Adama and many lesser characters, and far too much Starbuck, Season 4.5 is still a great and emotionally satisfying conclusion, especially the finale, to the most politically insightful show in the history of American pop culture.

In this age, TV producers and writers don't dare create storylines that span 4 or 5 years because the Damocles sword of cancellation looms over their heads. So Ron Moore and David Eick candidly admitted that after season 2 they did not know exactly where the series was going. Considering this, the ending of BG is a tour de force since it wraps up the story quite nicely. Science-fiction - at least good sci-fi - is always about exploring the human condition and looking critically at the world we live in. Here, BG succeeded better than Star Trek ever did since humans are not always at their best... Corruption, the destruction of democracy in the name of stability and security, the power of religion, good vs evil in the human condition (and in the Cylon condition!), BG dares look at humanity for what it is, and the picture is not always pretty.

The series finale is interesting. Photography is superb and the pace slows down considerably after the final battle with the Cylon colony. One might even call 'visual poetry' the scenes of the Earth the Galactica reaches: a warm and quiet place so different from the cold and harsh environment of the battlestar... Much symbolism there: after the death of the ship, a new life begins in Paradise... Humanity ressurrects to start anew. The religious overtones are everywhere... Genesis 6-14: 'the sons of the Gods came in unto the daughters of men'... Moore and Eick have transformed the Galactica crew into protagonists of Earth religions and into the missing link of human evolution... The union of Caprica 6 and Baltar symbolises the union of Cylons and Men - and by the way, the number 6 has always been associated with Man - consider the Prisonner series where the hero is simply called Number 6... Caprica 6 goes full circle: after destroying manking she become the first Cylon to bear a child... There is genius in this series... But it is not perfect and some will be frustrated with the way Starbuck fullfills her destiny, or with the ease by which the fleet accepts to abandon all technology... This makes little sense considering the many political battles fought in the series over stakes much less crucial than that one... The paradoxes of time travel are unexplained, but then again the unexplained is explained by the presence of the third force, that of God and angels - probably a way to tell the viewers 'Don't try to figure it all: it's a mystery and it does not have to make sense. Can we hope to understand God's intentions?'... I don't buy it....

Overall, this series is perhaps the best sci-fi series ever written. It should be acclaimed for its stunning visual FX, but mostly for the courage and lucidity of its writers who superbly and coldly depicted the quiks of humanity and society without ever becoming moralistic about it...

The DVD set features a few extended versions of the pivotal episodes. The episodes are even better that way. Great value!

One of my favorite television series of all time along with 'The Wire'
and 'Breaking Bad'.

Like 'The Wire' this is a complex, Dickensian study of human nature,
not afraid of asking big questions, and meticulously plotted like a
great novel, so that each episode is a chapter in a much larger whole.

Just as 'The Wire' used the overly familiar cliché' world of the cop
show to jump off from and shatter our preconceptions, and 'Battlestar
Galactica' uses the sci-fi series, and the idea of human versus robot
wars the same way.

This is thinking person's sci fi, in the tradition of Arthur C. Clarke,
or Isaac Asimov. It's about why we are how we are, what it means to be
a human being, morality under constant pressure in times of war,
fathers and sons, impossible loves, metaphors for modern and recent
politics and real world situations.

My wife, far from a sci-fi fan was hooked after 3 episodes, and we tore
through 5 years of shows in just a few days. It's that addicting.

The acting is all at least quite good, and some cast members are
remarkable, creating characters full of depth, complexity and
contradiction. The writing is terrific, allowing the characters to
change and grow, but always in ways that make sense, creating seemingly
inexplicable conundrums, only to find surprising, sometimes shocking -
but ultimately logical and satisfying - ways to explain where they've
taken us. The special effects are generally very impressive for TV,
even if they're not really why you watch this show.

It also has some of the most tense episodes of television I've ever
seen, and some of the season enders left me completely wrung out and
blown away. I was sad to get to the last episode, just as one is sad to
finish a great book.

As for season 4.5, the ending, the one let down for me in the series
was the very last episode. Certainly no disaster, but for perhaps the only time,
some of the answers felt disappointingly flat and simplistic.

But that wasn't enough to take away from the tremendous esteem with
which I hold the show. One that is surely worth your time, from begining
to end.

As far as getting the individual seasons, it looks as though
you can do better buying the box set, although prices fluctuate
quickly here on Amazon and elsewhere, so I'd advise you do the math
and figure out the most reasonable way to own the complete set.

Also, Amazon UK currently has a region-free complete blu-ray box set for
about $100 with shipping. It seems to have all the same extras as the North American
box set. Well worth considering as long as the price holds up.

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5.0 out of 5 stars too bad there won't be a 5.0!
What a great wrap-up to a spectacular series. The final episode and how the writers came up with that ending was remarkable. Read more

Published on July 7 2009 by A. Burnell

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing
What is worse than a disappointing end to a TV series? A disappointing end that is streched out over several months. Read more

Published on Jun 30 2009 by Moe Sasseville

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